Coming Back for More
by lildevil76
Summary: Edward has his eyes set on the new girl, Bella. How is she going to handle being chased after by the school playboy? OOC AH T for language
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Bella's POV**

Monday.

Ugh, just thinking it sent a wave of annoyance in my direction. Today was the start of the first day at my new school, Forks High. To say I was dreading it was the understatement of the century.

"Hey Bells," Charlie greeted me after I descended the stairs to the kitchen where he sat, coffee in hand.

"Hey Ch-Dad," I replied, mentally kicking myself for the umpteenth time I almost slipped. It was hard breaking the habit when I rarely ever saw him, because I always referred to him by name whenever he was brought up in conversation.

"Just wanted to tell you good morning and good luck at school before heading off," he pushed out of his chair and patted me on the shoulder. He was never one for hugs.

"_Welcome to Seattle. We hope you enjoyed your flight, and have a nice day." Stepping off the plane, I started looking for Charlie through the crowds of swarming people. It took a while, but when I found him I could tell he hadn't changed at all since the last summer I visited._

"_Hey Char-Dad! It's good to see ya, I missed my favourite dad," I quickly hugged him. I needed to work on the calling-him-dad skills._

"_A-hum yea, missed you too Bells," he coughed, awkwardly hugging me back. I was used to his lack of affections but I always did small things like this anyway. Feeling the familiar embrace reminded me how much I missed having him around._

_He helped me find my luggage before carrying it to his awaiting cruiser._

"_So, how was your flight?" he tried to make small talk, before I even opened my mouth. He knew I always tried to lift the uncomfortable atmosphere that always seemed to linger after reuniting from long periods of separation._

"_It was okay, though I think my ears are still ringing a little bit," I rubbed my left ear, putting my right ear bud in before turning up my iPod. "So how's Forks been since the last time I was here?"_

"_Same as always, nothing much has happened," there was that edge in his voice when he was trying to keep something from me. He knew that I knew there was something up when he took a quick glance at my lifted brow. "Well, uh…do you remember Harry and Sue Clearwater?"_

"_Yea, they were…nice," my memories of them were vague._

"_Um…you see, Harry passed away a few months after you left and Sue's been a wreck since-"_

"_I'm sorry," I said sincerely. I had no idea, Leah and Seth (I think those were their names anyway) must've had a hard time too._

"_It's okay, it's in the past. Well, me and the guys have been trying to help her out, and after a couple of months she was going back to her normal self. She started coming over by bringing me dinner because she said doesn't approve of takeout and, uh, one thing lead to another, and, um, we're, uh, kind of, um, together." He was nervously tapping the wheel, waiting for my reaction._

"_No _way_! That's awesome, Cha-dad! It's good to know you've snagged someone since mom." I told him, genuinely happy for him. "And, her cooking shows. You look good now and your belly's a lot smaller now that pizza isn't your life line," I teased, poking his stomach. _

_He chuckled, "Hey, it wasn't that big!"_

"_That's what you think," I joked._

_Once we pulled up the driveway, I noticed a big red truck parked beside us._

"_Hey dad, who's car is that?" my eyes narrowed in confusion, as I stepped out of the cruiser._

"_Oh right, you remember Jacob, Billy's son, don't you?" We rounded the car to stand in front of it. I nodded. I saw him a couple of times when I visited. "He fixed this up and I bought it off of him. It's a welcome home gift." He patted the hood._

_I think my jaw dropped in shock, before my eyes lit up and I unexpectedly might have squeezed the life out of him. "Thank you so much, this is the best present anyone's ever given me!"_

I was thankful he gave me the red truck. As much as I loved Charlie, showing up at school in a cop car was not how I wanted to start my days, least of all my first day of school in this gloomy town. It being so small, it was easier to attract attention that was unneeded.

Hopping into the driver's seat, I turned on the ignition and jumped a little, not expecting the loud roar of the engine coming to life. I put it into gear and headed towards my destination.

When I pulled into the parking lot after the couple of minutes it took to drive here, I sat and looked around a bit, trying to figure out where the office was located. There weren't many cars since I came early so I could get a head start in heading to my first class, knowing I'd have trouble find it and probably end up lost.

It didn't take long before I figured out which building it was, it being located in front of the lot, saying 'Office' next to a couple of other buildings with numbers on them. I got out of my not-exactly-new truck, locking it before heading towards the directions of the building.

Opening the front doors, I was quickly assaulted by warm air before I walked inside, a nice looking aged woman looking up upon my entrance.

"Hello dear, how may I help you today?" she asked in a comforting tone.

"Hi, I'm new. I just came for my schedule-"

"Oh! Isabella Swan, is it? The chief of police's daughter, of course of course. I'm Mrs. Cope. Let me get you your forms and here's a map in case you need help finding your classes!" she excitedly leapt up from her chair, going through a pile of papers before pulling out a few sheets of paper and handing them to me. "Now, this is your schedule for the year, and this is a form you'll have to get signed my all of your teachers."

"Thanks," I smiled tightly, not sure whether I should take in her demeanour as normal or a little scary.

"Have a nice day, dear! Hope you enjoy this school!" she called out, waving at me as I was leaving the building. Weird…

Cars were quickly pulling into the once empty spots as I looked over my new schedule. I looked over the map and sighed. I was right; it was definitely going to take a while for me to find my first class. Maps weren't exactly my thing. I pulled the paper away from my face and my eyes widened in surprise when I came face to face with a short pixie-like girl in front of me.

"Hi, I'm Alice."

* * *

Hey I know I haven't updated my other story in F-O-R-E-V-E-R and I feel really bad about it, well for those who didn't say "screw this story" and gave up on me. Don't worry, I would've done that too if it were someone else. The horrible lamest and most used up excuse I have for you is writers block. Yeah, I'm being honest, I have no idea what I want to do with it so I was the only one who knew it was on haitus (jeez I'm not making myself look much better). So instead, this idea that I've had lying around in the back of my mind resurfaced and since my last real story didn't seem too bad to some of you, I decided, what the hell? I'll start writing out this thing. It's not entirely original because there's been a lot of entries like this after it came to mind and I was lk crap, now it lost its originality ring to it, but I want to write it out sometime so I chose to now. Well not literally now, actually about two months ago I started, exams and last minute school cramming got in the way, I picked it up again after it ended, and now I have summer school. I shit you not, I do, even though some of you might remember somewhere waaaaay waaaaaaaay back that I said I took it last year for history and said I was never going to do it again and my friend somehow convinced me because I think I was on some sort of crack. It's hard to believe but I regret this more than history. Why? Because it's accounting, which is like a cram fest with all this info you have to learn and memorize in less than a month, I mean at least in history we basically just do some class work, watch documentories and movies, and write one crappy essay. And since today's my birthday, I felt the need to post at least something up because so far I've had an amazing sweet 16 with the party, presents (I'm getting a guitar tomorrow :D), two FUCKAWESOME concert experiences this month, and my all time favorite band Faber Drive released their new single on my birthday of all days and I've played it a gajillion times. I was planning to post this when I was done but when I tried to finish it before summer school started, I failed miserably. This might be changed slightly later on when I can finish it and get it edited, but I think this will be a huge improvement to my other stories because I'm actually taking my time on this and thinking carefully exactly what I want to happen. I hope you like it, and I will TRY to finish this before summer's over so I can just post the chapters a lot quicker. So far I'm on chapter 7 so wish me luck.

Love, lildevil


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**BPOV**

"Uh…hey, name's Bella. I'm new here," if you didn't notice.

"Oh I know, the whole school is talking about you, we don't get many new kids here, and word's been going around about the Chief of Police's daughter moving into town," she giggled. "So, need any help with finding your first class?" she was jumping up and down in excitement by now.

"Actually, yeah, that would be great," I handed her my schedule, thankful that I might not have to be late on the first day after all.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!" I don't think I was the only one in a fifty foot radius to jump in surprise. "We have AP English, Spanish, Trig, and Gym together! Oh my gosh, I can already tell we're going to be great friends, and this is practically a sign!" I was beginning to think she had built in springs on the soles of her shoes from how fast she was going up and down. I'm getting nauseous just watching her.

"Um, well that's lucky for me then. I don't exactly know anyone around here," I said sheepishly.

"Don't worry, I'll introduce you to Jasper and 'em, they're the best. We've all been best friends since forever and they're really nice, well once you get to know them. They'll love you. Now come on, come one! Let's go to our first period class already! We have to make sure we get seats right next to each other!" I followed her, amused by her hyperness.

We made it to first period with three minutes so spare before first bell and got seats next to each other in the back. I gave the teacher my form to sign, and he gave me a list of the books I'd need to read. Looking over it on my way back to my desk, I frowned. All of the books listed I had already read back in freshmen year. I guess this class would be a piece of cake.

"So, where'd you move from?" she asked eagerly.

"Phoenix, Arizona, I was living with my mom," I replied simply. Her eyes widened a little at my statement.

"No offence, but why would you move from sunny Arizona to a wet and dreary town like Forks?" I could see where she was coming from. It even sounded weird to me when it was said out loud.

"None taken. My Renee and my dad have been divorced and I was living with her. She just recently remarried this base-ball player-"

"Do I know him?"

"Probably not, he's minor league—anyway, Phil had to travel around a lot and my mom had to stay back at home with me. I could tell she was miserable, even if she didn't say anything, so I said I wanted to spend some more time with Charlie and here I am. In Forks," I shrugged.

"Wow…that's really nice of you. You must really love your mom."

I shrugged again, "Well I want her to be happy, and I felt like I was in the way. Besides, it's good to live with my dad for a change. He doesn't hover like she does, and I want to catch up. I only see him during summers and the occasional holiday."

Alice smiled at that. Before she could say anything else, the bell rang.

"Alright class, take out your copy of Wuthering Heights and we'll go over the chapters you were supposed to read for the weekend."

. x s2 x .

"Hola! Como estás?"

"Bien gracias, y tu?"

"Estoy muy cansada hoy," I laughed and walked to the seat beside Alice after Senora Galena signed my form.

"Nice, didn't know you were fluent, too," Alice giggled. I laughed at that.

I was just about to deny that when someone interrupted.

"Hey! You're the new girl! Isabella, right? You're so pretty, I love your hair! What do you do with it; do you use those ceramic irons? I'm gonna get one soon, they're amazing! And what kind of mascara do you use, your lashes are so long and dark!? Or are they the fake ones?" the random girl finally paused to await my answer…er answers.

"Um, yea…it's just Bella. I wash it with shampoo, no, I don't even own a hair iron, thing, whatever it is, I don't use mascara, and I wouldn't even know how to put on fake lashes even if I wanted to." Who was this person? And how the hell does she talk so fast without tripping over her own words?

"Oh, well-"

"Sorry Jessica, me and Bella here were kind of having a conversation here and the teacher's about to start her lesson. So since your seat is on the other side of the class, I think it'd be a good idea to take out your books before the teacher gets mad at you for talking while she's teaching…again," Alice saved me, covering up her obvious annoyance with a cheery voice with a matching smile.

"Oh, thanks Alice, I can always count on you. I'm so glad we're friends! Well I gotta go, I'll see you at lunch!" I swear, when she went back to her own seat, it looked like she was more skipping than walking.

"Thanks," I sighed in relief.

"No problem," she smiled back before Senora Galena started the lesson. It was mostly stuff I already knew from last year, and she gave us work sheets to follow the lesson that we could look back on later.

A note fell in front me ten seconds later.

_Sorry about her, she's one of those people that feed off of popularity, so she tries to be friends with everyone. She's nice but doesn't know when to give her mouth a rest, so I wouldn't suggest you tell her anything unless you don't mind sharing it with the rest of the town._

**I'm guessing she's not exactly your favourite person in the world, but she still thinks you're the best of buddies LOL**

_Something like that_

**Don't worry, she doesn't seem like the type of person I would hang out with anyway.**

_Not that I want you two to be the 'best of buddies' but isn't it still a little early for you to judge? haha_

**It's just a vibe I'm getting xD Besides, one bubbly friend is more than enough for me**

_Awww thanks ;) So did you want to go shopping Saturday? You could use some new clothes_

…_for the weather, of course_

**Hey! I think my clothes are fine, thank you very much. But I guess I could use some new hoodies…and an umbrella.**

…_and some cardigans, some turtle necks, ooh some belts to go with those, and matching knee-high stiletto boots…and some skinny jeans so its easier to tuck the bottoms in…_

**And maybe I'll just go get my hoodies by myself…do they have a Hot Topic around here?**

_:OOOOO You are not, I repeat NOT, buying your clothes from Hot Topic of all places! That's like a crime against fashion! And especially __shopping__ without MOI!_

**Chill, I was joking, of course I'll go shopping with you, and I don't really have a choice seeing as I don't know where anything really is around here. And what's wrong with Hot Topic?**

_I'm not even going to answer that question. If you're going to get hoodies, at least get them from A&F or something, that's the least you could do for my sanity!_

**xP ugh, and don't even get ME started on A&F and Hollister and whatever else there is**

_Then it's settled, we'll have to open up my laptop and shop online. I was thinking some Dolce, Vivienne Westwood, Michael Kors, and maybe a little Tory…and a few Manolos_

**I don't even know half the names you just said, but I'm guessing they're expensive when you started with D&G and ended with Manolos. Sorry Alice, but if you haven't noticed, I don't have money to swim in, and if I did, I wouldn't blow it off on things I don't need, like designer clothes.**

_That's why I'm going to be using my credit card. Trust me, when you see the clothes, you'll love them! :D_

**I can already feel myself getting nauseous and I haven't even seen the prices yet. Why do I get the feeling they have a minimum of two zeros…and I'm not talking about the ones after the period.**

_Because your feeling is right ;D_

**I think I'll setting for Abercrombie now**

Before Alice could write down a reply to that, the bell rang, signalling the end of second period.

"Oh no no no no, you can't back out now! I'm in my shopping mode! Just imagine all the things I'm thinking about getting you! You'll just break my heart if you settle for anything less than a Coach purse!" Alice was keeping up with my quick pace off to my next class. I glanced at my schedule the second time today, to make sure I knew which class to go to next. It gave me a reason to ignore the numerous stares I was getting without at Alice either, in case she was one of those people that used the puppy-dog look as their secret weapon.

"And how much, do I ask, is a Coach purse?"

"Well there's this one really cute one in New Arrivals that's only three hundred-"

"Bye Alice."

. x s2 x .

By the time we got to the cafeteria for lunch, Alice was still talking about shopping, while trying to convince me to let her pay, and that bringing her along is payment back enough. My ass.

"Hey! Bella! Alice! Over here!" I heard the familiar voice, shouting across the room at us.

"Shit, don't look. There's Emmett and 'em, go, go ,go!" she hissed under her breath, speed walking—or on the edge of running—in the opposite direction, without even a glance at Jessica. Probably in hopes that she didn't notice that we couldn't miss her high pitched voice over the crowd's chatter. The sad part was that she was in our Trig class too.

I quickly followed, almost dropping my tray of food when I stumbled a little, after the little pixie. She had already in her seat before I even reached the table.

"Hey guys, this is Bella Swan, Bella, this is Emmett McCarty, Rosalie Hale, his girlfriend, Jasper Whitlock, my lover, and—hey! Where is that sneaky prick?" she questioned during her intro to her group of friends. They shrugged.

"I dunno, haven't seen him since history during second," Jasper replied, a slight Texan accent could be heard if you listened close enough. "But it's nice to meet you, Bella. The whole school's been talking about you," he winked playfully.

I scrunched up my nose, "Ugh, tell me about it. It's like they don't know how to talk quietly while they're gossiping away. Like hello! I clearly just walked by you! And I know you know that because I'm going to need a laser-proof shield if you stare any harder!"

A booming laughter erupted, making my jump a little in surprise, coming from the one Alice introduced as Emmett. "It's like you can read my mind! Man, couldn't have said it better myself!" he chuckled.

"Yeah, I know it's a small town and all, but some of these people need to find something better to do than talk about other people's lives," Rosalie sighed, forking a strawberry in her mouth from her fruit salad.

"Well if they do that, how else are they going to socialize with each other?" I joked. The corner of her mouth twitched into a smirk at that.

"Hey! These are my fries!" Jasper swatted Emmett's burly hand away from his lunch.

"But I'm still hungry!" he whined. "Besides, I'm a growing boy," he pouted. Or at least attempted to, even though it wasn't very affective due to his massive form. Did I mention he looked like a grizzly bear? Well, teddy bear from what I can see of his child like behaviour.

"Growing boy? I think you need to _stop_ growing unless you want to get the principal even more suspicious on if you take steroids!" Rosalie just shook her head at the two, looking like she was embarrassed to even know them.

"How come you walked, I'm sorry, _ran_, here so fast, anyway?" I redirected my attention to Alice, remembering my near klutzy disaster she almost made me cause, and on my first day no less.

"Hello, have you not _seen_ Emmett? Anyone that doesn't know him very well is scared to be in a five foot distance from him, in fear they might get beat up if they brush up against him. And the ones that still know he's the sweetest guy ever, are still intimidated by his size," Rosalie crossed her arms, done eating.

"And Rose is here, and you might not know this, she looks like Aphrodite's daughter, so _they_ get intimidated by her beauty even if they don't have Emmett to worry about," Alice added. "Plus, she can be a real bitch if you rub her the wrong way, no offence."

"None taken," her smirk came back. I guess she didn't mind her bitch exterior, and I guess I wouldn't either if it kept certain people you didn't want around away. Then her expression suddenly changed to uncaring. "Ugh, he's finally here," she sighed.

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Hey sorry I'm-" I turned my head at the same time to be met with a pair of jade green eyes. "Well, hello there, I'm Edward Cullen."

* * *

**Okay things have come up and delayed my writing time on finishing this story asap before just continuously posting, so I've decided it's long enough to post the next chapter up for now. I just finally finished another chapter once I finally picked up the flow of the story. Sorry for any mistakes, my friend hasn't come back from vaca to edit my story yet so we'll hafta wait. I'll probably repost these two chapters but only with any corrections that need to be made, so it doesn't throw off the rest of the story. To any of the readers that have read the chapter I finally posted in my other story, you have probably read about the video contest I was busy doing and I finished it a while ago and me and my friends won! I couldn't believe it, but it was worth all the long hours and hard work. I'll post the link to the video on my profile so if you want, you can check that out. Otherwise, I think that's all I've gotta say. I'll see you guys hopefully soon, bye!**

**-lildevil**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**EPOV**

"Edward, hurry and get your ass down here or we're going to be late!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, jeez!" I yelled back at my sister, Alice. "Damn pixie."

I descended down the staircase, swiping my keys off the little table against the foyer, before walking out the door. Breakfast wasn't going to be part of the schedule today.

When I got to my silver Volvo, Alice was tapping her foot impatiently while Emmett yawned, leaning against the vehicle. "About time!"

"Yeah, yeah, now get in the car," I grumbled, tiredly. I had stayed up most of the night finishing yet another essay I had left to the last minute to do. Note to self: just do the damn homework earlier no matter how badly you want to say, "screw this shit, I'll do it later." Spending my weekend partying and making out with random girls in drunken states didn't seem such a good idea to continue at the moment.

Once the three of us got in, I sped off to pick up our other friends. Rosalie and Japer lived just a block away from each other so it made my job easier.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Jasper laughed as soon as he got into the car, obviously noticing the dark circles under my eyes.

"Like a baby."

. x s2 x .

The bell rang, signalling the end of class and time for me to head to the cafeteria.

"Mr. Cullen, please stay behind. I would like to talk to you in private." Apparently Mr. Way had other ideas. I finished packing my bag and walked up to the front of the class, standing in front of him, sighing.

"Yes, Gerard?"

"For the millionth time, its _Mr. Way_ to you," he looked around, making sure there weren't any more students around to listen in on us. "Do you have a cigarette?"

I always gave him joints when he asked if he didn't mark me late for the several times I was. Apparently you could get suspended if you are one too many times. Stupid if you asked me, but whatever, I had ways getting around crap like that. Gerard, or _Mr. Way_, was 'supposed to be clean' after his wife kept nagging him about how bad it was and that he had to quit. Her being an activist to some program promoting people not to smoke anymore kind of gave him no choice in the matter. So he just gives me money and I buy them off some drug dealer in our school and it's 'our little secret', but I didn't want to know what'd happen to him when his wife finally catches him. Yikes.

"I think I left them in my locker," I said when I couldn't find them in my bag after rummaging through it.

"Well, _can you get them_? I'm literally dieing here, the last one I had was on Friday," he complained. Oh, and I had to carry them in case the wifey finds them in his pocket or some shit like that.

"Fine," I sighed in annoyance. I walked out into the hallways, almost clear by now, and to my locker to get one of the joints and a lighter since I had to carry those for him too. Maybe I should just show up on time from now on. If he forgot his gum, he's on his own for that one.

Heading back to the calculus classroom, I could see him jiggling his leg up and down in anticipation. "Here."

He quickly grabbed it and I tossed him the lighter which he picked right out of the air like his life depended on it and lit the cig. "Thanks, I needed that. You get an A on the test you did today," he sighed in gratitude.

"Uh yeah, I'm pretty sure I got an A either way…" Calculus was like second nature to me, so it wasn't like I needed the extra mark boost up.

"Yeah, well…good job, keep it up," he turned away, dismissing me. Wow, I feel _so_ appreciated.

When I got to the caf, I grabbed a slice of pizza and a coke before I saw Lauren Mallory making her way towards me.

Fuck my life.

I looked around quickly in desperation and—thank the heavens—I spotted Alice's black spiky hair at our table and practically sprinted there.

"Hey sorry I'm-" I stopped as soon as I noticed the Goddess sitting there as she turned and locked her brown chocolate orbs with mine. "Well, hello there, I'm Edward Cullen."

The beauty smiled, and I felt this strange feeling I've never experienced before inside of me. She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything, my big dumb brother had to open _his_ mouth. "Where the hell have you been, man? Did-"

"One word: Gerard," I cut him off before he could suggest something to embarrass me in front of the new girl. I didn't want to make a bad first impression after all.

"_Anyway_, Edward, this is Bella, Bella, this goon is sadly my brother, Edward," Alice introduced. _Bella_. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

"It's nice to meet you, Edward," her melodic voice sang, outstretching a hand to shake.

"And you, Bella," I could feel her name roll off my tongue like it was the most natural thing in the world. I surprised her by not shaking her hand, but leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on it, my eyes never leaving hers as her eyes widened, then one perfect eyebrow arched followed by a smirk.

"Well, aren't you the gentleman?"

"I try," I grinned crookedly.

"Well if you two are done flirting, I would like to propose a shopping trip for the six of us this Friday," Alice cut in. Damn pixie.

"Alright, alright! But I pay for myself and I choose what _I _want to buy," Bella gave in, but not without throwing a compromise in.

"Deal," my twin smiled cheekily. I don't know how it doesn't hurt her to smile so much.

"When and where?" Bella grumbled. I hope she knew my sister had been crossing her fingers behind that new Blueberry—or whatever the name was—jacket.

"You'll see. We'll leave right after school, so bring your purse," Rosalie flipped her golden blonde hair over her shoulder, grinning mischievously. Those two were too much alike.

"Ugh, what's the point in us guys going anyway? We're not exactly into buying ourselves clothes so we 'have the latest styles' and we don't need anything at the moment anyway," Emmett whined. He asked the same questions whenever this happened, and got the same answers every time, so you would think he would learn to just go along with it. It was less painful that way.

"_Because_ we need our own personal chauffeurs to carry all of our bags so our arms don't get sore. You wouldn't want us to hurt ourselves, would you?" Alice turned her big innocent eyes to Jasper, blinking her long lashes at him.

"No honey, we wouldn't want that to happen," her boyfriend replied like an all too rehearsed line. Well technically it was an all too rehearsed line considering it was used every time Alice turned to him for support from Emmett's complains.

Even though the two of them couldn't use the guilt-the-boyfriend card on me, I had to go along with them in fear of my car's fate. They were serious when they came to their threats. My old stereo system would know.

"We are so whipped," I grumbled, finishing off the last of my coke and shooting it into the nearby blue bin a few feet from our table.

Score.

"That's why you love us," Alice sang back, making a heart with her fingers, looking more like a little girl than usual.

"Uh huh, you keep telling yourselves that," Emmett joked.

"Anyway, I've gotta go find my next class. The bell's going to ring any minute and I don't want you to be late so I'll just find it myself," Bella added the last part considerately to Alice.

"What do you have?" I grinned.

"You'll find out later," Alice glared in my direction, seeing where I was going with this. I ignored her silent message, raising and expectant eyebrow at Bella.

"Biology," Bella replied over her shoulder after she got up to dumb her tray.

Cue follow.

I quickly got out of my chair after her, tray in hand also. "Well then why don't I walk you there? It looks like we have class together anyway," I suggested.

"Sure," she smiled and that weird feeling came back again and I was momentarily distracted. I started to eagerly lead her to the classroom when she started giggling. "Um, Edward? Your tray?"

"Right." My face probably had a stupid look on it as I turned back around to put it on top of where Bella left hers. Smooth.

"So tell me everything I missed while I was elsewhere in the beginning of lunch," I steered away from what just happened that I would prefer never to be brought up again. But I was genuinely interested about what she'd told my friends about herself when I wasn't around to hear what she had to say.

"Nothing much," she shrugged, following me out into the hallways.

I groaned playfully, "Oh come on, you had to have told them _something_."

She laughed at my tone, and I smiled at the fact that I was the one that humoured her. "Well, I've only told Alice a few things since she asked."

"Well go on," I encouraged her to continue, nudging her shoulder with my arm as there was some pretty noticeable height different going on.

By the time we arrived to the classroom, she was left thinking of anything that she had missed in her conversation with Alice and the interaction between her and our friends. I didn't want her to know more about Bella than I did on the first day.

The bell rang five seconds after we entered the room so the whole class was already sitting in their seats staring at the two of us as I went to take my seat. Bella went up to Mr. Banner, sheet in hand. After signing the form, he looked around the room, and I cursed under my breath for the only vacant seat left was beside Mike Newton and seeing the loser's smile widen.

Before Mr. Banner opened his mouth to tell Bella where to sit, I quickly pushed Erik Yorkie out of his chair beside me and growled, "Go find another seat." I almost pitied him when he scrambled to pick up his books and nearly knocking over his chair in his haste after he saw my glare. Almost. Too bad my mind was too preoccupied in saving the brown-eyed beauty from having to sit with some creeper for the rest of the year. But I'm sure any man would want to help the damsel in distress so-she-could-sit-beside-me- instead, if they were in my position.

"Ms. Swan, please situate yourself beside Mr. Cullen in the back, and Mr. Cullen, I'm sure you wouldn't mind fetching her a textbook in the back cupboard." My pleasure, I grinned back at Bella's raised eyebrow at the happenings of about ten seconds ago, catching the little twitch from the corner of her mouth.

I got up, smirking triumphantly at the dirty looks I was getting from Newton, and got her an extra textbook from the back corner.

"Okay class, we're going to start with a little in-class assignment, so I hope you've reviewed your notes, because this isn't an open-book," the whole class, except for maybe Bella and I, groaned on cue. "Oh quiet, no need to be all 'but Mr. Banner…' If you actually listened to me for once, you would've caught the hint I gave you that you'd need to study. Now the first group to finish gets a little side extra credit. The microscopes and slides are already placed on your tables so you can start as soon as you get the sheet coming around."

The class continued grumbling about how "there was no hint" and "unfair" it was as the worksheet was going around the room. As soon as we got our papers, Bella immediately jumped into conversation.

"So what was with the whole "Go find another seat" and pushing your partner out of his seat scenario?" she teased, eyebrow still raised although I knew she knew the answer to that and was just toying with me.

"Well unless you wanted a douche bag that would fail you as a partner, instead—then be my guest," I went with another obvious answer besides that I wanted her to sit with me, grabbing the microscope the get started.

"You're such an A," Bella giggled, handing me the first slide.

"I'm sorry you didn't get the chance to be the first to say that," I put my hand over my heart like I was being sincere for the loss of her goldfish. I rotated the objective lenses, using the fine and coarse adjustment knobs to level the stage so I could bring the slide into focus. "Prophase."

"Awww, I'm devastated," we both laughed at that, before Bella jotted the answer down. I was about to do the next one when she asked, "Can I do one?"

"You sure? Most people find this hard and you just started this class today," I tried to hint that it wouldn't be a problem for me to label them all myself in case she had difficulty analysing and naming the slides.

"Pfft, no prob. This is the easy stuff, I took an advanced biology last year and aced that shit." Beauty _and_ brains equals BIG turn on in my book.

"Okay, if you say so," not being able to deny her, I pushed the big hunk of metal over to her, handing her the second slide.

After adjusting the lens a bit, she quickly answered, "Anaphase."

I hope the desire in my eyes wasn't too obvious; scaring her off on her first day wasn't exactly what I was going for. So to avoid being caught, I used the sheet as an excuse to look down as I wrote down the next answer as she turned the microscope back to me.

"Meta—what?" I stopped mid-answer when I heard a snigger from my right.

"Nothing." Taking my eye off the lens and turned my head in Bella's direction to see her smiling 'innocently' at me. Yeah, innocent my ass.

"Uh huh, now spill—ew I just sounded like a girl, please don't repeat that to anyone that matters," my face scrunched up, realizing the all too familiar line girls like my sister or on TV used when asking for gossip.

Sadly though, this just caused a snort to escape that smile, big enough to become permanent soon, she had on. Taking a few deep breaths before she began, to calm herself for good measure so she wouldn't crack into a full on laugh, from what I can see. "Sorry, but you have _really_ girly handwriting," she stated as if telling me a funny joke what she wasn't supposed to let anyone else know.

"What?! How?"

"What do you mean _how_?! Look at it! Then look at mine. If you haven't noticed, normal guys don't write this freakishly neat and fancy. It looks like some sort of historical manuscript shit you see them talking about on the discovery channel!"

How the hell did she just lower my self esteem so quickly in the last hour? "Well I'm sorry I can't do chicken scratch as well as you do." _Oooo burn_, I almost hear myself saying, but I'm sure she heard it in her mind too by the look on her face as she tried to come up with a witty comeback.

"Well…you have a big nose!"

…and failed miserably.

I raised my eyebrow in the 'is that the best you could come up with' manner. "I'm going to pretend didn't happen so the situation doesn't get any sadder than it actually turned out to be," I instantly regretted my reply after I saw a fist coming towards me, and surprisingly felt a little pain coming from my arm. "Ow! What was that for?" I asked, but secretly found her strength a big turn on.

Bella smirked in triumph, holding her nose up in the air. "If you want to bruise my ego, I'll gladly bruise your arm right back."

I felt this was my chance to jump right in, so I asked, "Well I'm sorry for poking it too hard, so why don't I take you out to dinner as my form of an apology?" I smiled cunningly, licking my lips letting her know just how much I would enjoy that.

"Wow a gentleman, eh?"

"I try," I shrugged playfully.

I couldn't tell if she was pretending to think about my proposition or not as she "hmmm"ed and paused looking elsewhere. After a few seconds though, she attention turned back to me. "On a Monday?"

"Friday's too cliché if you ask me," she grinned at that and I felt an easy victory.

She all of a sudden leaned in close, and I thought she was going to kiss me unexpectedly at first when she moved her heard slight to the left. "Apology accepted, pick me up at seven," she quietly said, her voice taking on a low undertone with a trace of husk in between that made me want to just grab her and stick my tongue down her throat. Just as she was beginning to pull back, she leaned back in, "and don't be late."

Bella grabber her textbook and bag just before the bell rang and started to walk out of the classroom when I finally gained my senses and thought about what she said before. "Wait!" I quickly scrambled out of my seat to catch up with her.

She stopped and turned around on her heal, textbook still clutched to her chest.

"Is my nose really that big?"

----

**Sorry I haven't updated in forever even though -shuffles behind a rock- I already wrote it a while ago. I've been pretty busy and this is supposed to be my EASY semester -.-" anyway, I can update up till chapter seven because I've already written them out (just haven't gotten any eddited so sorry about that) and I have part of chapter eight done but I've been leaving it hanging because I don't have much time to work on it. If you really want, I can update this every day or two until chapter seven but until PROBABLY the winter holidays, I won't be able to give you anymore then that. Thanks puglover770 for reminding me to update :)**

**See you soon**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**EPOV**

I was slightly out of breath after trying to 'inconspicuously' run in the opposite direction once I caught sight of Jessica Stanley walking abnormally fast in her five inch stilettos. Who was I kidding? I was running like a madman. That girl was as slobbery as a hungry dog waiting to be fed, hence why I looked like I was in an Olympic marathon. It was after school and I had just shut my locker when I heard someone call my name down the hall.

"EDWARD! Wait up!!" Unfortunately, she was coming from the direction of the school parking lot which left my signature bat-mobile escape plan out of the equation. Looking desperately around for some place to hide, I caught sight of the boy's washroom and I could see that light shining from heaven down on it like a sanctuary. I made a mad dash for it, but just when I was five feet from entering my haven, something, or rather someone, stood in front of the doors and threw that idea out the window.

"Oh shit," I breathed, defeated, halting to a stop before I crashed.

"Edward!" Lauren Mallory flung her eighty pound body at me, locking my head in between her scrawny arms. She lifted her feet off the ground and I awkwardly held her before I felt as if said arms would snap if she let what little weight she have rest upon them. "I tried to get your attention earlier at lunch, didn't you hear me?"

"Uh…" I tried gently prying her off of me but she didn't seem to get the message so I had to resort to my only option. "Can you stop hanging off of me like some sort of annoying necktie trying to choke me?" I barked out bitterly laced with annoyance. I didn't always like acting like some stuck up asshole but sometimes it's the only time they'll listen to you.

"Oh, sorry," she giggled, meaning to sound cute but sounding more like a creepy pedophile. "I just missed you so much, and I think we should get back together." Lauren started running her bony fingers down my arm. I couldn't help but shudder, and not in an interested way.

I never dated a girl more than once so when I looked up with her a second time last year, due to boredom, she instantly thought she was special. Yeah, right. I was still making out with several different girls in between and everyone was aware of it.

"No I'm sorry," her eyes lit up in excitement, thinking I actually felt bad. "I have a date tonight and if you don't get out of my way, I'm going to be late." as quickly as her face beamed was as fast as her face fell as I pushed her out of my way. Hopefully Jessica gave up on me and went home by now.

"Wait, what the hell! With who?!" she ran up to walk next to me and nearly topped over due to the height of her shoes but I didn't bother giving her a hand to balance herself.

"Not that it's any of your business, but it's with Bella," my smile grew, and I licked my lips, anticipating when she would lick them too.

"The new girl?! You have got to be joking!" her arms flailed to show how exasperated she was. Whatever. She was just jealous because 'the new girl' was at least fifty times hotter than the hottest girl in the school. Which wasn't very at all, and Lauren wasn't that girl, so you'd get why I was picking up my pace, once I saw the exit to the parking lot.

"No I'm not," I pushed through the doors and headed towards my Volvo.

"Well will you at least give me a ride?" she whined out of desperation, as I unlocked the door.

"Uh, let me think about that…no," I threw my bag into the passenger seat before climbing in. I shut the door and backed out while Lauren stomped her foot like some four year old. I burst out laughing though when I started driving off after that stomp looks to have caught the heel of her shoe in a crack in the pavement and she broke it off trying to pull it out.

"Not _that's_ a sad situation I'm going to pretend didn't happen," I sighed once I calmed myself enough, having almost swerved the car from my hysterics.

. x s2 x .

I checked myself over in the mirror again for probably the tenth time. As soon as I got home, I called for reservations before hitting the books but didn't realize the material would be so easy until I finished it in just under an hour. I still had another hour and a half before I needed to start driving over to Bella's so I watched some TV. There wasn't anything good on after the first show so I went to get ready, changing into some dark jeans and a black button up, leaving it untucked with the last three left open. I left my hair because for some reason, girls digged that messy-just rolled-out-of-bed look and it seemed like the only look it knew how to stay in. Guys started trying to get the same look all the time, but it was evident with how much gel they used.

"Will you stop pacing so hard? I'm starting to feel the vibrations from my room," Alice popped her head into my room, her thin brows narrowed at me in annoyance.

"Sorry, just bored out of my mind," was my excuse.

"Why?"

"I have a date with Bella," I wasn't sure whether I should've told her or not, considering I wasn't normally this anticipated about a date. Half the time I was late because I didn't really care, since I knew they didn't mind waiting for me anyway. They were just happy I was taking them out at all.

She stayed silent for a while, just staring at me, and I couldn't help but wonder what her deal was.

"What? It's not like I've never dated a new girl before," of course, there were probably only about two since our freshman year but I still hooked up with them.

"Yeah, but do you even remember their names?" Okay she had me there. "And Bella's my friend, she's different from the other girls and I know we're going to be long-term friends, I can feel it. So it's not going to be awkward between the two of you after you toss her aside and she comes over for a sleepover with me? It's not going to be tense when Esme invites her over for dinner? She's not going to come to me crying when she sees you with another girl glued to your mouth while you could give a damn about her feelings?"

"Okay, you can shut it now," I interrupted before she could open her yap again. "I'll still show her some affection if she wants after maybe three weeks. I think I'll keep her longer than the usual, maybe even a month," I bargained to make my sister happy. She could be a broken record that doesn't know how to stop talking when she's pissed.

I took a step back when she walked right up to me and jabbed me with her manicured finger in the chest. "You don't get it do you? Half of those girls you date have cried over you when you dropped them like a rock. What if that happens to her? Who do you think she's going to turn to after she gets attached to you? She probably won't even go near me because I'm related to you and she won't want anything to do with you after this." She was steaming now, looking like she wanted to bang my head against the wall as if that would seal her words into it.

I didn't need this. I looked at the time and decided Bella wouldn't mind if I was a little early. Looking back at my Alice, I glared back at her and pushed her aside. "You know what, I don't need this. She wants to go out with me so it's her decision, not yours. It's not like Bella's just some kid, she'll get over it, so back off and let her do what she wants to. It was pretty obvious I was interested in her so you should've just told her about me if you really care about her so much," I grabbed my wallet and my keys and headed out of my room.

"That's what I don't get, I did," I wasn't sure if I heard that right from the soft whisper, but I was too worked up to give a fuck and just focused on getting to my date.

. x s2 x .

"So Edward, what are your intentions with my daughter?"

I felt like I was going to shit a brick. Ever since I rang the doorbell, Chief Swan seemed to always be at least in a five foot radius of me. That means, he answered the door before yelling up the stairs at Bella to tell her, her date was here, walked me to the living room, offered me a drink—begrudgingly though—and picked up one of about ten guns he had been 'cleaning' and started wiping it down.

"W-well sir, I was just planning on taking Bella out for dinner as a form of apology for what I had said earlier that hurt her feelings," I tried not to stutter. I gulped as his gaze became fixed on me as he (hopefully) accidentally pulled back the hammer while he was cleaning the dust off of it.

"Now what could you say that would hurt her feelings?" Shit. I should just keep my fist in my mouth so I can't say anything that might threaten his motives to shoot my balls off.

"Uh, it wasn't anything serious, we were just joking. She didn't really take offence into it," I tried to worm my way out of the hole I was starting to dig myself in, and it was obvious that he saw this.

But I think my prayers were answered because just then, Bella stepped into the room and said a quick "I'm ready to go."

I nearly jumped out of my seat and took her hand before she started leading us out. We almost made it too, before the chief bellowed, "Be back by nine!"

Bella turned around with a frustrated look, whining in what would be an adorable way if her dad wasn't still holding the most likely then not loaded 99mm he showed me, "But dad, that's way too early. At least give us till eleven!"

"Ohhhhhhh no way there missy, there's a lot two teenagers can do in four hours," he shook his finger at her.

"Uh, sir. If I could just say it takes half an hour just to get to the restaurant alone, depending on the traffic," I tried to clear my voice of the fear that was pooling underneath.

"Yes, and it shouldn't take you youngsters more than an hour to eat. Nine is plenty of time if you ask me," he gruffed out, and I made a mental note to bring extra pants next time because I nearly pissed myself when he decided to shake the gun at me instead of his finger.

"Come _on_ daddy, ten. We won't do anything that you wouldn't approve of, promise," she tried to sway him.

"If it were nothing I would I approve of, then you wouldn't be on this date at all," he grumbled, but sighed reluctantly, turning his gaze on me. "Fine, ten and no later or I'm coming after you with my hunting rifle, got it, bud?"

"YesSir!" I yelped out, almost standing ramrod straight and bringing my right hand up with my forehead to salute him. It was my first instinct.

"Let's go Edward, I'm starving so we better be going somewhere good," Bella tugged me outside to my car and I was surprised I found myself coherent enough to open the door for her. I didn't normally do that for girls but her dad was still standing on the porch so it felt accustom if I chose to live.

As I pulled out, I let out a ghosted "Your dad seems nice."

Bella started giggled hysterically at that but I was still recovering from when my life started to flash before my eyes. "Yeah, and I'm Katy Perry. You should look at yourself, you look like you're about to burst into tears at any moment."

That snapped me out of it. "I do not!" I probably only looked like I saw a ghost.

"Well you did when my dad started pointing guns instead of fingers," she laughed. "It's okay; he is a really nice guy once you get to know him."

"I don't think I'd ever get enough on his good side to get to know him," I pointed out.

"Yeah, probably not," she smiled back teasingly. _Thanks for the moral support, I wish to kiss your feet in gratitude._

"Anyway, let's stop talking about the serial killer in this horror film I found myself in."

"Okay."

"And thanks for the big nose comment, I think I wasted about and hour of my life staring at the mirror and thinking it looked like the size of an orange."

Bella laughed, "No problem. Where are we going anyway?"

"That's a surprise, you'll find out in thirty minutes." That wasn't exactly the subject changer I had in mind but it worked.

"Awww, come on, I hate surprises!" she pouted, and I finally had the chance to find her adorable now that all weapons were safely out of reach of my body.

"It's not anything too special so you wouldn't be all that surprised."

"If it's 'not anything too special' then why don't you just tell me?"

"Because then it wouldn't be a surprise," I grinned coyly, as she attempted to growl in aggravation but it sounded more like a kitten attempting to be a lion.

"You're no fun," she finally huffed, crossing her dainty delicate, instead of bony, arms across her chest.

"Oh I beg to differ," I waggled my eyebrows jokingly, which she blushed at but cracked her out of her foul mood into fits of laughter. But I was serious though, from where I had planned for us to go.

We got to our destination in good timing, chatting in easy conversation. It felt good compared to the half brained, awkward, or annoying ones I had to put up with in the past. I got out and felt I minus well open her door for her again as it seemed like the right gesture and held her hand as we walked up the steps to the quaint Italian restaurant.

"Bella Italia, eh? Nice, you just scored some serious points, even though it's a little cheesy," she smirked.

I mocked offence at her statement, putting my hand over my chest. "Why Ms. Swan, I could've brought you out to McDonald's if I really wanted to. And since when was this a game show?"

She laughed at that. "Okay Cheese Ball, lets go get some grub before I start eating the lawn."

"If that's what you really want," before I tugged her towards the hostess standing in the front of the restaurant, I finally noticed Bella's attire for the evening. Her hair was left down in its soft waves that I had been craving to run my fingers through all day. She was wearing a black mid-thigh sweater dress that was striped with white on the top. The pattern ending just bellow the bust, where there was a small metal ring placed in between the top, with sleeves just a little past the elbow. She matched it with a simple pair of flats which was a relief before if her legs looked any longer; I'd probably make a fool out of myself for getting down on the ground just to hug them. It was a surprisingly warm evening so she forgo a cardigan. I couldn't help but lick my lips in appreciation as my eyes lingered on her curves before I started to voice them, "You look absolutely sexy tonight Ms. Swan." My voice noticeably dropped an octave or two as I brought my eyes back up to look at hers under my eyelashes.

"Why thank you Mr. Cullen, although I'd prefer beautiful, but you don't look too bad yourself," she replied seductively, running her hand across the top of my chest slowly before undoing the forth button and walking past me.

Fuck me.

I quickly shook my head to rid the haze I was put in and rushed up to an in awe Bella standing in front of a concerned hostess.

"Surprise," I whispered in her ear like she had done to me earlier today. I told the girl my name and she led us to a secluded table in the back, and my date didn't seem to be moving so I gently guided her with my hand on the small of her back.

The restaurant was one I had heard was good for romantic settings with the dimmed lights, rose placed as décor on the tables, a dance floor, and live music. The food was pretty good too.

Bella seemed to gain her senses before we sat, to which I pulled the chair out for her. Like I said, minus well keep playing the gentleman card if I had already taken it out back at her house in front of the chief. I didn't want to have to admit to being a pussy anymore than what was already seen when around the chief.

"Looks like someone has an admirer," her eyes shifted in the direction of the hostess that had just left.

"Really? Is it you?" I grinned. I honestly didn't notice since I was trying not to be too obvious sniffing Bella's scent. It made my mouth water like a fountain.

"You wish, Cheese Ball," she snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Yes I do," I retorted back.

Before she could reply, the waiter asked, "What can I get you Sir and Madame. Maybe a drink for starters?" I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at him when I saw him keep stealing glances at Bella. It felt kind of strange because I never really gave a care in the world about my date, let alone if some other dude was checking them out. But then again, my dates were never this smoking hot.

"Bella?"

"Um," she quickly glanced at her menu, "a coke and the mushroom ravioli, please."

The waiter turned to me after staring at her way too intensely if you ask me, "And for you, Sir?"

"Same," I replied coolly, but in guy code, it said 'dude, you better back the fuck off'. He hurriedly walked off to place our orders, while I turned back to Bella, my smile coming back. "I guess I'm not the only one."

"Only one, what?" she gave the cutest puzzled expression I have ever seen.

"That has an admirer," I chuckled as her eyes widened in shock.

"Who, you?" she teased, although the pink coloring on her cheeks gave away that she knew who I was really talking about.

"Definitely," I licked my lips.

She rolled her eyes and asked instead, "What's your favourite color?"

Well I definitely wasn't expecting that. "Blue, yours?"

"It differs on my mood, but at the moment, brown," she replied simply. Impressive. "What's your favourite movie?"

"Hey, why do you get to ask all the questions?"

"Fine, then ask away."

"What's your favourite movie?" I smirked. She raised one perfect eyebrow at me.

"Cheese Ball."

"So what if I am? Do you have a problem with that?" I challenged. The waiter came back; his eyes focused on the drinks as he set them down in front of us and zipped away.

Bella took a sip from the straw before setting the cup back down. "Yes I do," she joked sarcastically. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Yes I do," I threw her words back at her for throwing mine back at me. "And you didn't answer me, what's your favourite movie?" I repeated.

She rested her chin on her palm that was supported by her elbow on the tabletop, looking up at the ceiling in thought before choosing her answer. "The Nightmare before Christmas," she finally said, taking my by complete surprise. "What? That movie was awesome, I love Jack skeleton, and Tim Burton is a genius," she answered confidently, showing that she didn't give a crap if my reaction was negative.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised that's all. Don't worry, that's one of my favourites too, along with Edward Scissorhands, I mean, you can't say its not when the title has your name in it," we both laughed.

"Yeah, that movie was so cute, Johnny Depp did an amazing job as usual," she swooned, and that strange feeling came back.

The food came and Bella dug in straight away. She wasn't kidding when she said she'd eat the lawn, she was like a vacuum cleaner. It's good to know she's the kind that actually eats. And I salads and soups don't count as food in my vocabulary, no matter how big the salad is. "So what's your favourite season?"

She paused, waiting as she chewed and swallowed before accusing, "Hey, I get to ask next, quit stealing my turn!"

I raised my hands in front of me about shoulder height. "Sorry, but in my defence, I wouldn't steal it if you would ask one already."

"Alright fine, favourite quote?" She popped another piece of ravioli into her mouth as she waited for my response.

I swallowed my own food, picking up my coke, "'Hell is full of musical amateurs' – George Bernard Shaw, yours?" Gulping down the liquid when I realized my thirst, I kept my ears open.

"'"What 's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'"

"Romeo and Juliet? Who's being the Cheese Ball now?"

"Oh shut it, Shakespeare is too good not to quote." She drank the last bit of her coke before announcing, "Okay I'm done."

"Me too," I finished up the last bit of my food before looking back at her with a devious grin. "Wanna dance?"

That obviously took her off guard when she shouted, "Hell to the NO!"

"Why not? It's just slow dancing, the music isn't exactly upbeat," I bargained. Most girls jumped at the chance, but I guess I should've already figured out by now that Bella wasn't most girls.

"Do you even understand how clumsy I am?! I'd be lucky if I didn't end up killing myself, let alone you, or even the rest of the dancers!"

"Come on, it's all in the leading, I promise I won't let you kill yourself."

"Or yourself."

"Or myself," I sighed. It's not like she was wearing heals, so she should be fine. We weren't going to break out into some sort of break dance so she had nothing to worry about.

She still looked hesitant so I pushed out of my seat and gave her my hand, and I chuckled when she swiftly sent up a silent prayer before vacating her seat with me.

_Shed a tear 'cause I'm missing you  
I'm still alright to smile  
Girl, I think about you every day now  
Was a time when I wasn't sure  
_

The all too familiar notes of a Guns n' Roses' Patience cover filtered throughout the small restaurant as soon as we got to the middle. Bella slowly brought her arms up and placed them around my neck, as I placed my hands on the sides of her petite waist. I felt the want to trail my hands lower but opted instead to pull her close. She looked up at me through her thick lashes and I was momentarily…dazzled before she rested her head onto my shoulder. She smelled so good.

_But you set my mind at ease  
There is no doubt you're in my heart now  
Said woman take it slow  
It'll work itself out fine  
All we need is just a little patience  
Said sugar make it slow  
And we'll come together fine  
All we need is just a little patience  
(inhale) Patience...  
Ooh, oh, yeah_

We swayed back and forth until it neared the end of the song, and I felt Bella lift her head, looking up at me with that same look and I couldn't help but lean in.

_I ain't got time for the game  
'Cause I need you (Patience, yeah)_

Our breaths ghosted over the other's mouths, weary but intentional, as I tilted my head to the side and gently pressed mine to hers. It was timid at first and I released hers for a moment, just hovering before I leaned back in and firmly moulded them back.

**  
**_Yeah, yeah well I need you  
Oh, I need you (Take some patience)  
Whoa, I need you (Just a little patience is all we need)  
Ooh, this ti- me...._

The performing band changed to a different song but I didn't seem to care which one when she moved her hands into my hair and tugged me closer. Then, as if she had read my mind earlier, I felt her tongue slip out and lick my bottom lip. I was about to open my mouth when the worst timing could possible happen.

"Ahem," I unwillingly pulled away from Bella so see the waiter. "The check." My glare must've done something right because he took a step back, but the prick didn't leave.

I fished into my back pocket for my wallet and threw a couple of twenties at him, letting him pick it up, as I pulled Bella outside. "Fucking douche," I muttered.

Bella started giggling at my demeanour, patting me on the back. "Jeez bud, lighten up, we've been on the dance floor for at least ten minutes. I'm surprised they just didn't kick us out for all that PDA." Ten minutes? Was it really that long?

"But still," I pouted like a kid who got his toy taken away from him. Luck was in my favour when Bella 'aww'ed and pecked my lips as if to make it better.

I opened the door for her the second time that night and waited as she got in before getting in myself and started the drive home. By the time I pulled up onto Bella's driveway, I asked her, "What's your favourite book?"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many to answer that one, and you stole my turn again!"

"My bad," I grinned. I've been doing that on purpose lately. There were too many questions I wanted to ask and there didn't seem to be enough time to voice them all.

"Okay, favourite song?"

"Too many, too," I admitted. But hey, music was basically my life.

"Favourite album?"

"Keep going." We were walking up her front steps.

"Artist?"

I waved my hand for her to continue.

We stopped to stand on her porch. "Okay, then what CD is in your car at the moment?"

"Debussy."

"My favourite is Clair De Lune," she sighed dreamily, as if remembering why, and again, I couldn't help but lean in and press my lips to hers, but all of a sudden she was yanked away.

"Good night Edward," the door was slammed in my face by the chief, but even that couldn't stop what I was feeling right now.

Clair de Lune.

Well fuck me if she wasn't my soul mate. Screw Alice, she had nothing to worry about. I planned to worship the ground Bella walked on for a hell of a lot longer than two weeks.

* * *

**Hey sorry for the little wait, have been crazy busy this week and my internet is killing me with how slow its been going lately. I'll try to post the next one sooner :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**EPOV**

The next morning was hell. I'd been tossing and turning all night and hadn't managed to fall asleep till around five. To say I wasn't tired would be one of the fattest lies of my young life. It left like I'd fallen asleep for all of five minutes before my alarm clock rang at seven on the dot.

My excitement overruled it though at the thought I've been having all night—seeing Bella. I had already planned out the even for the day; see Bella, make out with her before I walk her to class, pick her up from class, make out with her before second, continue till lunch where I buy her lunch, she makes out with me as her form of repayment, ask her on another date, walk to Bio class together, offer her a ride home, make out on the passenger side against the Volvo, take her on said date, and ask her to be my girlfriend. And for once, I wanted it to be more than even a couple of months (without any visits to the janitor closet with any other girl besides her).

I know, hard to believe, I was still trying to make myself believe I was still Edward Cullen myself and not have been moved into someone's body overnight. I wanted her to be my high school sweetheart, and hopefully continue our relationship past that phase. Whoever said that I would ever want to stick to one woman, I would have laughed in their faces before yesterday.

As I quickly flew through my bathroom routine, grabbing a piece of toast on my way out, I contemplated whether I should pick her up when I saw a sticky note on the side of my car.

_Picked her up already, you sloth_

—_Alice _

"Damn it," I muttered to no one in particular. I ripped the little piece of paper and crumpled it in my fist before shoving it in my pocket.

**BPOV**

"Bells! There's someone here to see you!" My eyebrows knitted in confusion as to who would come, I glanced over at the clock, at 7:30 in the am.

I trudged down the stairs and calmed when it was only Alice, who was at the moment chatting happily away with Charlie who looked to be wrapping around her little finger.

"Hey, no offence, but what are you doing here?"

The pixie turned away from her animated conversation with my father and beamed, "I'm here to drive you to school, silly!" She bounced out of her chair at the kitchen table and took my hand, chirping out, "It was nice to meet you Chief Swan!"

"Wow, nice ride," I commented when we walked out the door, instantly spotting the bright yellow sports car.

"Thanks! Sweet Sixteen present from the 'rents," she supplied, as we got into the car before she stuck the keys into the ignition and gassed us out of there.

"Why are we going to school so early again?"

"Why not? You're going to eat breakfast for twenty minutes?"

"I see your point."

"Bella…that's not why I came here, although I don't mind picking you up, your truck is a moving disaster."

"Hey, hey, let's not insult my baby," I defended.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, there reason why I came so early was because I needed to talk to you," she took a quick glance at me nervously as she made a right turn, concern evident in her expression.

"About what? It couldn't wait till class or lunch?" Now I was worried.

"No, we might get interrupted, and what I want us to talk about would be in favour to not."

"Okay…then spit it out already, you're stating to give me the heeby jeebies," she pulled into the school parking lot, the ride from my house not being very long. Forks was small so the high school wasn't pretty close.

Alice turned off the ignition and turned to face me, "Why don't we take this in the library? I know a vacated spot that no one wonders off to."

When we got to her spot, I asked, "Now can you talk to me?"

Taking a deep breath, she looked me straight in the eye, or as straight as she could, looking up at me from our slight height difference. "It's about Edward."

Realization dawned on me, and I was washed with relief. "Ali, don't worry about it."

"I thought you were listening to what I was warning you about yesterday. He's not good for you Bella, I told you how many girls he's hurt before, and I don't want you to be another one of them. You're my friend, and I already feel like we've known each other forever," she clutched her small hands on either side of the top of my arms, willing me to understand.

"Like I said, don't worry, I feel the same way, you've been the most compatible friend to me. I know how Edward is and about his past and I don't care, I'm not going to get hurt, trust me," I hugged her to reassure her.

"That's the thing, I'm afraid you're wrong," she mumbled into my shoulder, her arms encircling my own body.

The bell rang just then, signally we had five minutes to get to class.

"Why don't we get to class and finish talking at lunch? We still have to get our books and our lockers are at the other end of the school," I laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"'Kay," she sighed reluctantly, and we both headed off to class. She really did have nothing to worry about.

**EPOV**

By the time I whipped into a parking spot, I noticed the two girls weren't anywhere in sight, the Porsche parked at the very front of the school. Fuck.

I started looking around the school, peering into to classrooms, and even charming the nearest girl to check the washrooms for me. Nothing. I gave up and headed to first period when the bell rang. I'd try my luck at lunch when I realized I didn't know what classes she had besides Bio. Note to self: get myself a copy of her schedule.

I headed over to my locker and shoved my books in before slamming the locker and I swear, my heart almost jumped out of my throat.

"EDWARD!" Tanya had been standing behind my locker door and I shouldn't have been so scared because this sadly wasn't the first time she's done this.

"Yeah, what?" I started walking to class, not caring if I left her behind. Normally I would have pressed her up against the locker and ended up with lip gloss all over my mouth by the time I showed up to class, late that is. She was hot, well for a girl in such a small town, but she didn't hold a candle to the sex appeal that just rolled off Bella's innocent body.

I could here her shoes clicking behind me to catch up. "What, no kiss, or even a 'hey baby'?" she said the last two words seductively, or at least tried to anyway. After hearing Bella's voice, her hysterical laughter was sexier than what Tanya just tried to do.

"Uh…I'd rather not get you sick," I faked a cough, although I didn't even bother making it sound very real. Whatever, she could go suck an egg.

"Ugh it's that new chick isn't it?" her voice held a bitter tone of disgust. I should have known Lauren would have told Jessica, the school gossip, who spreads words faster than the speed of light.

"Yeah, so if you don't mind, I gotta get to class," I didn't wait for her response as I just walked into Advanced Calculus.

It felt like ages before lunch finally rolled around and I wasn't surprised when I was one of the first people there. I stayed outside the doors. It didn't take long before I caught sight of the beautiful brunette heading my way with Alice and Rose next to her.

My smile grew. "Hello beautiful," I snaked my arm around her waist.

She giggled while I ignored Rose's fake gagging. "What, no 'sexy' this time?" she teased.

I took a deep breath, looking at the ceiling and bouncing on the balls of my feet a little as if to prep myself up and then leaned down close to her ear. "You look incredibly sexy this afternoon, Ms. Swan," I laced my voice with a deep undertone.

She slapped my chest and I laughed as she blushed.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you look adorable when you blush?" her face turned impossibly redder.

"Did anyone ever tell you when to shut your trap?" Her wit only drew me in more.

"Edward, shut your trap, no one wants to hear you flirting with Bella," Rosalie piped out with that bitchy attitude of hers but you could tell she really wanted to start laughing inside.

"Well now I have."

We all picked up trays and started piling food onto them. When we got to the cashier, I handed over a twenty before Bella could pull out her wallet.

"Hey! I wanted to pay for that!" Bella protested as we were forced to move towards a table so we didn't hold up the line.

"Well I wanted to pay for that too, so how come it's only fair if you get what you want?"

"Because it was _my_ food and you had your own to pay for. It's not your responsibility to buy mine too!" she huffed, as we sat our trays at the table we sat at yesterday.

"Will you two stop bickering? Bella you just saved yourself six bucks, and Edward, stop staring at her chest and eat your own food." Could the ice queen not leave us be? I snapped my eyes back to my tray when I realized I had been indeed let my perv eyes get the best of me, muttering nonsense too quiet for them to hear.

"Hey, dudes and dudettes, what's uuuuuup?" Emmett and Jasper slammed their trays onto the table, taking seats beside their respected girlfriends, before devouring their food.

"Grossed out if you guys don't slow down," Alice wrinkled her nose.

They slowed down, but only enough to actually chew their food, while I casually took a bite of my pizza.

I turned my attention to Bella with a grin while the other four talked amongst themselves. "So, I was wondering if you would be opposed to another date tonight?"

She smiled and raised her brow. "Another one already?"

"Why not, did you not have fun last night?"

Her expression turned apologetic and I was nervous when it lost that teasing feeling to it. "Sorry, our teacher gave me and Alice an essay we have to write by tomorrow."

I could feel my face drop. "Oh, well—"

"Yo Ed! You wanna head over to my house after school to what the game tonight?" Jasper hollered.

"Oh, its tonight?" I completely forgot, but I would've much preferred hanging out with Bella if I could. "Sure."

"Great, we'll be ordering Chinese, so tell Esme not to cook for you," Emmett added, rubbing his hands together and licking his lips in anticipation.

"Alright," I pulled out my phone and texted her. Knowing my mother, she always had her phone on her in case one of the garden club members wanted to reach her.

Conversation drifted back and forth across the table, but I didn't miss the way Alice kept shooting me glances. I ignored them, and just walked Bella to her locker so she could pick up her textbook, leaning against the one next to hers, and then we left for class.

"Early two days in a row, Mr. Cullen? I applaud you," Mr. Banner clapped twice bitterly. Don't need to be an ass about it.

The bell rang before I could get another word out and we both sat in our seats. Today he actually gave us a lesson so we couldn't talk, but I was shooting daggers when I kept catching Newton giving creepy stares to Bella.

When we were dismissed, I started walking her to Gym.

"Newton needs to learn to keep his eyes to himself," I grumbled in annoyance.

Bella laughed. "Just ignore him, its not like he's doing anything."

"But stare at you. Don't you get shivers or some shit, it doesn't seem like the most pleasant feeling?"

"Meh, you get used to it, he's in my Gym class too."

"What?! Okay, I'm going to start switching my classes around now, its not safe being near that little shit."

"Pssh, calm yourself, its not like he's going to do anything in a class full of people, especially with Coach Dolson around, that guys an _ass_hole."

"I still don't feel too good about it though," I ran my hand through my hair.

"Just drop it, look, I gotta get to class, so I'll see you later," she turned on her heal to head to the gym doors that we had stopped by.

"Wait," she paused and faced me again to listen to me. "Do you want a ride home? Since you don't have a car, and because Alice was the one that drove you here and forgot about getting you home when she asked Jasper to go shopping with her," I added the last part to make myself sound less needy.

She smiled, "Sure that would be great."

. x s2 x .

The rest of the week it felt like the teachers were tag-teaming with each other to see how much homework they can use to overwhelm the students. The whole group was busy, and if one was free, the rest were working their asses off trying to write essays, construct 3-D models for class projects, and complete whatever sheets were given.

Come Monday, we were filled with relief, but tired as hell from finishing the assignments to be ready to hand in that day. Bella and I only had to make a representation of a plant cell together which seemed stupid to me because it was something you would find doing in elementary. We decided to make it out of cake and just label the parts with little pieces of paper we would stick in afterwards. **(I did that in eighth grade xD)**

We chose to work on it Tuesday when her Spanish teacher told her she was going to give them a test on Wednesday and Bella wanted to study ahead of time. I quickly typed up the parts of the cell after school and printed it so we could cut them out after we were finished.

Alice always beat me to Bella's house, even when I tried waking up earlier; she always seemed to know and would be out of the house before I even got to the bathroom. So I gave up on wanting to drive Bella to school, I got to drive her home today anyway since we had the project to work on.

"Hey Edward," I almost jumped right off of the chair I was sitting in and landed on my ass. I was scrolling through my phone, texting Alice to come meet me in the library since I knew her class was going to be working on the school computers anyway. I needed to talk to her about Bella, but she had stayed in her room the whole week like I had working on homework, and she had to study for that Spanish test too.

Tanya came around from behind me and stood facing my line if vision. Why did she keep doing that? I thought word spread that I wasn't interested in being on the market anymore. And Tanya had first hand experience on that account. "What now?" I sighed. I'd much rather spend my free period by myself than in her presence.

"I just wanted to talk," she took a step closer, instead of taking the seat in front of me.

"Uh…"

Then she surprised me and put either leg beside mine and straddled me. "I know you're just trying to make me jealous, Kate and Irina told me all guys try to play hard to get when they really want a girl. So I forgive you for leaving me in the parking lot last week." I put my hands on either side of her, but before I got to push her away, she pressed her lips to mine vigorously.

I quickly stood up and let her fall on her scrawny ass, not giving a damn if she broke something this time, wiping my mouth with the back of my arm. "What the fuck?"

And then I caught sight of one of the worst things that could happen. I saw Alice's black spiky hair just as she pushed through the library doors.

Fucking hell.

Looking back down on the shell-shocked bitch, I spat, "I'd rather saw off my own arm than 'play hard to get' with you. Go tell Jessica or everyone else that they can look for Newton if they want to hook up with someone."

I stormed out of there, but Alice was already long gone. I ran my hands through my hair and tugged at it.

Fuck.

. x s2 x .

"So what do you want to make the vacuole out of?" I asked, looking through the pantry and pulling out random snacks we could use to make the parts out of.

"How about just a balloon?" she suggested.

"Sure," I shifted some things out of the way and found the stash of party supplies Esme had left over. "Do you want to do the honours or should I?" I held out the piece of rubber, offering it to her.

"I want to!" she jumped out of the stool enthusiastically and snatched it from my hand.

I laughed at her childlike manor and pulled out the icing and food coloring we would use to coat the cake that was almost done baking in the oven. While Bella was turning red from blowing up the balloon, I peeled the seal off of the jar of frosting and started dripping the green food colouring, stirring it together.

She tied a knot onto the end and set it on the counter. I handed her another knife to help spread the green sweetness before I grabbed the oven mits and pulled the cake out.

"So…would you rather run a full lap around a mall parking lot during the day butt naked or grope a pedophile?" I asked, waiting for the dessert to cool down.

"What the hell kind of question is that?"

"A 'would you rather' one, now answer," I grinned crookedly.

"Hm…the first one is pretty embarrassing, but pedophiles scare the shit out of me, so I'd choose to run naked." I barked out a laugh, clutching my stomach. "Hey! Shut it, I mean what would you pick if you were me?" I only laughed harder. "Fine, Cheese Ball, would you rather do summersaults in your underwear with doo-doo stains in the middle of a photo shoot with a bunch of hot foreign models or give head to Emmett?"

My laughter stopped immediately at doo-doo stains.

"Ha! Who's the one chuckling now?!" Bella cackled manically.

Damn her.

"Do the models think I'm hot?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Now answer the question, Cullen!"

I sighed. "Uh…summersaults. There is no way in hell my mouth is going anywhere near a man's body."

"Oh…my…god!" she was leaning on the tabletop now for support. "I just imagined it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I think the cakes good so start frosting, Missy," I took the pan and flipped it over a tray, and it came out easily. Pushing the tub in between us, we started coating it. "Would you rather jump off a cliff or drown in a lake?"

"Cliff, at least I die instantly, I almost drowned when I was five and I wouldn't get anywhere near a pool till I was ten," she shivered. "And it's not cool to joke about death you know," bumping me in the side with her him.

"Sorry, baby," I leaned in and kissed her forehead, and she stiffened. Pulling away with my brows scrunched together, I asked, "What?"

She bit her lip, I sign I had picked up she did when she was nervous. "I don't think we should be doing that kind of stuff." What the fuck?

"Why?"

"…Tyler asked me out for Friday night…and I said yes."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**EPOV**

"What the fuck, when was this?!" Being angry didn't even cut it. I was fucking pissed being fucking belief.

She looked down at her feet, as if the answer was there, before bringing her gaze back up but looking past me, not meeting my eyes. "Today, we have gym together."

I felt like all I saw was red. "Why the fucking hell would you say _yes_?"

"Why not? He asked and it would be rude to say no," she started to get defensive. "He's a nice guy, helps me from getting hit with volleyballs and crap. And I said yes to you, so why not."

"Uh, that's _exactly_ why. You said yes to _me_. And we would've gotten to our second date where I asked you to be my girlfriend if it weren't for those fuckers piling all this work on us!"

"We went on _one_ date. It doesn't mean anything and even if you did ask me to be your girlfriend, how long would it last, two weeks? Huh?"

I slammed my hand on the countertop. "Fuck! No! I wanted a _long term_ relationship with you! You're the—" I almost said 'one' but I bit back my tongue. I didn't want to scare her off. "Look, haven't you noticed I never showed any interest in any other girl since you came? If you didn't know, that's not exactly normal behaviour for me!"

"Oh, yeah, is that what you tell all the rest of them? Do you really expect me to believe you? You could be just meeting them in the closet at school when I'm not around!"

"If this is about what Alice told you about Tanya, then I swear—"

"Okay hold up, what the hell are you talking about?"

Shit. I was ninety percent sure Alice was going to tell Bella right away about what happened earlier today.

I stayed silent, unsure if I should just tell her or not. She looked at me expectantly, her glare not wavering. I sighed.

"Alice caught me with Tanya in the library. She came out of no where and laid one right on me just when Alice showed up and she ran back out the doors before I could catch up with her to explain…" Bella let out a deep breath and her face softened.

"It doesn't matter, anyway."

My eyebrows flew up into my hair. "You don't?"

"No, I'm not your girlfriend remember?"

That pissed me off. "But you could still be jealous! Don't you feel anything knowing that some other girl kissed me?"

"No, I really don't," she looked me dead on and I could tell she wasn't lying.

I had difficulty not punching a whole in the wall, so I decided to run my hand through my hair. "What, so you don't want to be with me?"

"No, I…can't," she whispered the last part. Now was just bewildered.

"What? Why?"

"Just drop it, okay?" she snapped, signalling the end of the discussion.

I closed my eyes and calmed myself down enough. "Okay." Picking up the discarded knife, I dunked it into the green frosting and finished coating our model. I would leave it for now, we had to finish the project still and I could tell she needed space right now.

. x s2 x .

Wednesday morning was a nerve-racking day, because I still didn't know how to approach Bella. Alice had come into the kitchen, taking a break from studying, just as we were finishing up cleaning and offered her a ride home. I guess that was a better plan since the air was unbelievably tense between us.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I immediately caught sight of her with Alice and Rosalie, but she either didn't notice me or just ignored my presence altogether. The back part of my mind told me it was the latter. I didn't know whether I should I go up and try my hand at talking to her. Looking around, I noticed there were too many people around. Having the student body gossip about a possible feud between the new girl and the school playboy didn't seem in my best interests, so I just left our Bio cake model into our class.

As I was walking in the halls, it alone told me that word had already gone around about the whole incident in the library. I almost laughed at how oblivious they were that they were being far from discreet when it came to the whisper and stares when I walked by. Whatever, by now I learned to ignore them, since I could give a damn what they said about me.

"Yo, what happened with the whole Tanya fiasco?" Jasper grabbed the neck of his shirt and pulled it over his head. We had second period Gym together and the change room was empty. His teacher favoured him so let him out of class early when he finished class assignments before the bell. I, on the other hand, just walked out when the teacher went on a quick washroom break.

"What'd you hear?" I asked, undoing the button on my jeans.

"Well, there was the slamming her into a bookshelf before pushing her to the ground and throwing in a few hits. Then there's the whole catfight between Bella and Tanya over you while you just watched…yeah, you get the point. So how much of the shit is actually true this time?"

"I'd say eighty percent. Tanya just kissed me out of nowhere, claiming I was playing 'hard to get' so I pushed her away and saw Alice running out of the library. That pissed me off even more so I told her off," I pulled my gym shirt over my head.

"So what about Bella?"

"It was horrific. We got into this whole argument yesterday at my house about me wanting her to be my girlfriend but she's already going to go on a date with Tyler on Friday—"

"Crowley? Blonde Crowley?"

"Yeah, who else? I don't know any other Tyler's. Anyway, she basically told me she didn't want to hook up because she couldn't trust me," I sighed, running my hand through my dishevelled mane.

"No offence, you're like my bro and all, but I wouldn't trust you either," he laughed.

"Note helping, man, not helping."

"Sorry. Jeez, you're in a tight situation."

"Tell me about it," insert eye role here. I got up to leave, Jasper following behind me, when the sound of the door opening echoed, letting us know people were starting to file in.

"Did you try talking to her, at least?"

"That's the thing; I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her yet since the whole fight. We still had to finish our project so we ended up staying silent the whole time. It was awkward, well for me at least. She seemed like she was lost in her own thoughts," I tossed Jasper a basketball and he dribbled it doing a lay-up. "I saw her this morning, but there were too many people around and I got the feeling that she didn't exactly want to talk."

I picked up a ball and shot from the three-point line. _Swish_. "Show off. Do you want me to ask Alice to talk to Bella for you? It might be easier if she listens to Alice."

"Nah, that'd make it worse. I don't think I'm exactly her favourite person at the moment. If you did that, she'd have my balls _and_ yours."

He flinched and his hands instinctively moved to shield his boys. "Ouch."

"I think it'd be worse than just an 'ouch'. Whatever, I'll try my luck at lunch. If that doesn't work, there's always Bio right after that. She'll have to show up because we still have to present the stupid assignment to the class."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"I'll need an extra pair of jeans."

**BPOV**

"What a fucking blowjob!"

"Rosalie! Can you lower your voice; you're attracting some much unneeded attention," I hissed. About ten people looking in our direction, giving us funny faces.

"Well how else do you expect me to act? He was trying to use those damn his womanizing 'skills' of his on you! Especially after what—"

"It's not entirely his fault. He didn't know why," I reminded her. She and Alice were the only people I ever told, not even my mom knew. They became close friends to me over the last week and I felt like I could trust them.

She huffed. "But still, I'm not happy about this."

"Me neither," Alice threw in.

"Look, he just pulled in, so could we just leave it? I'm not interested so I really don't feel like talking about this anymore," I saw a silver Volvo roll in, obviously his since his family was the only one in town that could afford brand new cars. Besides Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett, I had found out a couple of days ago.

Most of the people already started heading in so Rose said, "Fine. I'm gonna start heading in, I'll see you guys at later at lunch."

"See ya."

Alice opened her car and grasped the strap of her large shoulder bag she used to carry her books and we walked to first.

Lunch rolled around and I saw Edward, with Emmett and Jasper, already at the usual table looking right at me. I almost made a U-turn walking right back out, but it seemed rude if the girls ditched their boys for me.

I decided to prolong having to face him by standing in the longer line up for food. I only bought an apple and a bottle of lemonade since I noticed he had two trays—no need to waste food here.

"Hey Jazzy!" Alice hopped onto her lover's lap. Between juggling with homework and her friendship with me, she barely saw him anymore.

I looked away from the couples when I saw Rose and Emmett in a heavy lip-locking session, and had no choice but to be left with Edward.

"Here," he pushed the extra tray he had towards me when my eyes finally met his.

"Thanks," I tentively picked up the muffin unwrapped the ceramic plastic from the pastry.

"I didn't know what you would like so we can trade if you want."

"No, its fine," I wasn't picky when it came to food.

It was pretty obvious I knew what was coming next. "So…do you mind if we talk?"

"Well we're already kind of doing it now."

"Right," he looked down, choosing his words carefully. "But it might be better if we did this somewhere a little more…private."

"Can we eat first?" was my best excuse.

He knew what I was trying to do but didn't say anything about it. "Sure."

When we were finished eating everything, leaving nothing else for me to consume to drag out anymore time, I sighed. "Uh, me and Edward are just going to check if our project hasn't been demolished by anyone, so we'll see you guys later."

"Alright, check you guys later," Emmett waved, shoving the last bit of his hotdog into his mouth.

I pushed out of my chair and took my tray to dump before walking out of the cafeteria. We walked in silence, me following him to wherever secluded enough place he had in mind.

He turned into a classroom that was surprisingly unlocked, me walking in right behind him.

"So…" I tried to break the awkward silence, since we both knew what was going to go down in here anyway. Minus well cut to the chase. The only thing that worried me was what was going to be the outcome of all this. I knew what the topic was on his mind, I just didn't know if either one of us was going to end up saying something to upset the other. God knows I'm not a mind reader, let alone a psychic as well.

Edward finally seemed to find it would be easier to just blurt what was on his mind out. "Bella, jeez, you know I'm really sorry right? I didn't mean to piss you off yesterday. I was just angry because I thought we could be something more." He looked like he was about to say more but bit his lip, not sure whether to say it or not, instead settling with, "Just please accept my apology. It would lift some of this weight off my shoulders."

I sighed, looking down at the ground briefly as to ready myself. "Apology accepted. I'm sorry too; I sort of overreacted so you can't take all the blame here. But I don't think I could handle us being 'something more'."

His face fell for the slightest second where I knew I would've missed it if I blinked, but he cleared it just as fast as it had happened. "Alright, but could we at least be friends?"

"I don't know…"

He saw through my hesitance. "I can't say I know how you feel but I could see where you're coming from. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't a screwed up guy, but this is all I'm asking for, please, just give me a chance," he pleaded and I couldn't find it in myself to say no.

"Okay, friends," I held out my hand for us to shake on it, a small smiling creeping on my lips.

"Great," that beautiful crooked grin of his appeared, as he grasped my hand. I couldn't deny that he was gorgeous, but looks weren't everything in my book. A flashback beamed into my mind. _No definitely not_.

I glanced at the clock hanging near the doorway and realized the time. "We should probably start heading to class. I want to get this stupid presentation over with."

He laughed and I gave him a puzzled look. "I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing how eighth grade this thing is. I don't know what Mr. Banner had running through his mind when he came up with this assignment." I couldn't help giggling myself. It was true; I remembered doing this back in the day. But hey, at least it was an easy A.

We presented first in class, handing out pieces of our 'model' for the class to devour so we wouldn't have to deal with bringing it home afterwards. I was surprised the janitor or someone hadn't touched it since this morning. I know I'd be tempted to if I saw it just lying around in some classroom.

He still walked me to last before heading off to who knows where for Free. Gym was a pain in the ass as usual, but at least I had my friend Angela in this class. She was one of the only nice girls that weren't resenting me because she wasn't interested in Edward, having dated her long-term boyfriend since freshman year.

We walked out of the change room after my own personal hell, heading towards the parking lot. I had gotten used to just grabbing what I needed so I could just head out instead of stopping in my locker since we don't get homework in Gym anyway.

"I'll see you tomorrow Bella!" Angela waved as we separated, heading in different directions once we left the exit.

"Later," I smiled genuinely at her before heading over to Edward, who was leaning on the hood of his car. "Hey," I greeted him as he pushed off to stand. After our little truce, conversation started flowing normally so I was glad the awkwardness had lifted enough so it would be…well awkward being near him.

"Hey yourself. So how was Gym?"

I groaned. "I don't even want to talk about it. Let's just say it was horrible as usual and leave it as that okay? Okay." I gave him no time to say otherwise to which he just chuckled, seeing what I was doing.

"Alright, alright. So did you want a ride home, or is the little minx going to drive you back too?"

Before I could reply, I heard Tyler Crowley calling my name. "Hey! Bella!"

**EPOV**

Fuck my life, could someone give me a god damned break?

"Hey," he took in a few gulps of air, trying to catch his breath. Loser, he ran—what, twenty feet from the school to where we were standing?—and still broke a sweat? Pathetic if you ask me. "Sorry I hadn't mentioned it in class, but you know how Coach was today with all the drills and games, and stuff. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I can't wait for our date on Friday," he grinned at Bella. Dude, I'm standing _right here_.

"Oh…yeah," Bella smiled at him, but I didn't miss that fact that she hadn't thrown in a "me too" in there.

"Well if you don't mind, I kind of want to get home, and I'm also kind of Bella's ride so…" I did my best not to sound like the ass I wanted to be at the moment since Bella was right in front of us.

"Oh, right. Hey, why don't I give her a ride home instead? I really don't mind." I couldn't help the mental image of punching his face in. It was like he was asking to get beaten.

"No, no it's okay. Really, Tyler. Why don't I just see you tomorrow in Gym?" Bella interrupted, not wanting to be any trouble, which bothered me almost as much as if she accepted.

"Well, okay…if that's what you want," he sounded a little dejected and I was having my own personal party inside of my brain. I almost smirked at him too, but Bella turned back to face me after she said a quick goodbye.

I opened the passenger door for her and used my hand to gesture toward it. "Shall we?"

She stepped into the car and I quickly shut the door before running over and getting into the drivers seat. I revved the engine a bit before speeding out of there. What can I say? I liked to drive fast. Bella used to complain but got used to it when she figured I wouldn't slow down more than five mph.

"So…where are you two guys going for your 'date'," I asked, trying to sound nonchalant about it. Shit, what the fuck am I doing? It's like I'm setting myself up to get pissed off, but I couldn't help the curiosity.

"Promise not to suddenly show up and 'coincidentally' be there at the same time," she teased.

"Pssh, who do you think I am? Newton?"

Bella cracked up at that. "Alright, but don't laugh," I stayed silent, making no promises. "He asked if I would go to the movies with him." A snort escaped me, but I tried covering it up with a more fake than not cough. Nice save, _not_. "Hey!" she punched me in the arm again like she always did when I ticked her off or laughed at her, but in this case, my amusement was directed at Tyler. "There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a regular date. People go to Cineplex for dates all the time."

"How original," I mumbled under my breath before saying more loudly, "What, no dinner?"

"Well…he didn't mention it. But its okay, I'll just eat before we leave," she shrugged, not making a big deal out of it. I brought girls there too, but I at least stopped by Pizza Hut or some shit to feed them. I mean, I had to feed them, even if was just salads, if they were going to spend the whole time making out with me instead of watching whatever was playing. I just pulled into her driveway when she added, "I almost don't want to show up at school tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Two words: Alice and shopping."

I groaned closing my eyes as my head tiled back to lean on the headrest. "I guess I'll be seeing you at the mall."

"Why?" she repeated my earlier thought.

"Because of the three of us guys, it's my turn to carry the bags."

. x s2 x .

I didn't know if I wanted to throw myself over the side of the second level of the shopping centre, or if that was going a little extreme. I looked ahead of me and saw the beautiful brunette with Alice and Rosalie on either side of her, looking about in as much pain as I was in. I knew this from her backside because she kept throwing me 'help' glances over her shoulder. I don't know how that would work since I was just as stuck as she was. Not to mention I got more than a few curios glances from carrying forty pounds of shopping bags, more than half from clothing stores made for women.

"Oh we _have_ to go in there! Come on, come on!" Alice squealed, practically making a sprint towards—I looked up and almost had a heart attack—Victoria's Secret.

"Oh, no. Oh, no no no no no! I am _not_ going in there. Please, anywhere but there, anywhere!" Bella was begging like she was going to be dragged into the slaughter house.

"Oh, please! You're acting like chopped liver," Rosalie took a hold of Bella's arm and began dragging her into the pink store. Well I wasn't too far off.

I stood in the same spot, not sure if I was too terrified to go in there and would rather just sit on the bench outside, or if I wanted to go in there to sneak a peak at what Bella was getting. Bella looked like a dying ghost with how pale, well more than usual anyway, she was so I threw all thoughts out the window and manned up before stepping in. I was debating with myself if I felt like an awkward boyfriend or one that braced this situation with excitement, even though I knew I was technically neither of those.

The three musketeerettes were nowhere to be seen as I wondered aimlessly (and awkwardly) through the store.

"Psst!" I looked down and saw Bella hiding behind a display of…panties. Wow, I really didn't know things could be this out of my comfort zone. "Over here!" She was sitting cross legged so she wouldn't be seen over the stop of the table and waved me over to join her.

I crouched down next to her before pulling myself into a sitting position like hers. "Hey, how'd you get away? And where are the other two?"

"I don't know. All I remember is a bunch of frilly shit in my face and them wanting to try stuff on, so I hijacked out of there when they thought I was in the changing rooms with them," she shuddered. I couldn't blame her. "So I suggest you stay here with me unless you want to get a possible glimpse of your sister in less than a tank top because the rooms are about fifteen feet behind us with an open isle." Now it was my turn to shudder.

"No thanks."

"Thought so."

"Why'd you choose here to hide? If you were looking for some new underwear, you could've just stayed with the two piranhas. Although, if you want my opinion, I'd say blue would look better with your complexion," I teased, having grabbed randomly at the display above us, holding out the lace to Bella as if assessing if it would go.

I dodged her fist this time when it came flying, and started laughing. "I already have those ones." I nearly choked in shock before the laughing started coming from her this time. "Kidding. Not that you totally didn't deserve that. And to answer your earlier question, it was the closest place to dive out of view when I hear them calling my name."

"Fair enough, now you want to make a run for it or do you want to wait for them to hunt you down as soon as they're done?"

"Run, definitely run."

* * *

**Merry Christmas everyone! (Or should I say, happy holidays?) This has been a pretty good (but broke) one, so here's the next chapter to celebrate :D Hope everyone got a little something special because I know I'm really happy this year. I'll see you guys soon with the next chapter :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**BPOV**

"_You're a nice guy and all, but I don't think this is going to work out."_

"_Why, is this because of…"_

"_No, I just think we'd be better off seeing other people. I don't feel we'd be compatible in the long run."_

"_But…but…"_

"_Goodnight Tyler," I closed the door on him and felt pretty bad for leaving him in near tears—for the second time tonight. The first time was when Charlie brought out his guns again for display before we left. I could feel sympathy for him that time, so I let it go. Just about anyone would when they had a gun pointed at them 'unknowingly' because their date's dad was loading it for 'geese hunting season'. I wouldn't be surprised if Charlie said he was 'testing them out because he had a feeling crime was lurking around the corner' next time._

_The night was going fine from there for a while. He picked me up in his mom's van, we made small talk like "You look good," "Today was a drag," and so on. We pulled into the lot of the local movie theatre and I realized the best thing to watch was some movie about some human girl being left by her vampire lover and she finds out her old childhood friend is a werewolf. Apparently it was a sequel, and I didn't watch the first one so I left it out of our options since I probably wouldn't get most of it._

_Tyler ended up choosing some movie called _Funny Games_ that he had said he wanted watch for a while. It was supposed to be a horror film so I agreed, being a big fan of scary movies._

_I regretted it so badly._

_In the beginning, I thought it was starting to pick up but then it just kept getting more and more brutal. Not in violence wise, but for me to endure having to watch it. I was tempted to just walk out but it had this hold on me that wanted to know what would happen in the end, plus it would come off as rude if I ditched. I realized his intentions for this movie when he put his arm around me and whispered that he could comfort me if I was afraid. That was the oldest move in the book. Scared was the last thing on my mind. It was more along the lines of _wtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtf_…_

_If you thought that was bad, then you don't even want to hear about how he actually straight out asked if I wanted to get into the backseat. He made it sound like he was offering me a piece of gum. So obviously I politely declined. Then to top it off, he nearly crashed the vehicle on our way back to my house when he saw a sign advertising free toys with every happy meal from McD's._

"Holy crap…" Edward managed to get out, wide-eyed. Well it didn't last long before he burst out laughing, tears clearly forming in his eyes ready to spill soon. Alice and the rest of them followed behind Edward's example.

"Shut the fuck up, you guys! You know I didn't have to tell you, so if you ever want to pry information out of me ever again, then you'd snap those traps!" I huffed, crossing my arms in shear annoyance.

"Aww Belly looks like a little kid," Emmett went to pinch my cheeks like a kid but I quickly swatted his hand away. He was supposed to be the teddy bear out of all of us.

"Hey! Quit that!"

"Aww, come on Bella, you have to admit that was pretty hilarious," Jasper chuckled, having mostly calmed down. Better have.

"You've got to be shitting me. That was the worst date I've ever been on!" I threw my hands into the air to emphasize my point.

Edward grinned, traces of humour all over his face even if he was trying to hide it, patting me on the shoulder. "That's why it's so funny."

**EPOV**

"Ugh!"

All the stressing out about her date was thankfully washed away by relief. I was scared shitless at the fact that they might hit it off. How wrong I was, thinking about what she had just told us about her experience last night.

Bella stomped off in the direction of…well I wasn't sure after she rounded the entryway out of our living room.

Fuck. Now I felt bad.

I jumped off the couch and ran to catch up to her, just barely catching a glimpse of her brown waves when she turned into the kitchen. She could walk fucking fast when she was pissed. I grabbed her and hugged her better. "We're sorry, you know we don't mean any of it." In return, instead of a normal hug back, she punched me in the gut. And let me tell you, she's pretty fucking strong.

I choked from the surprise pain and let go. She brushed herself off before putting her hands on her hips. "Next time you do that, make sure you don't squeeze me in a death lock with my face so close to your armpit. That shit doesn't need to be anywhere near my nose. Oh, and you should probably change deodorants, that's not doing anything for you."

"Sorry," I rasped out as the rest of our friends turned their amusement towards me, having caught up just in time to see me get hit by a girl.

"Hey, lets go play some Guitar Hero, I've been dying to open the new one," Alice bounced up and down, dragging Bella by the hand with the gang chuckling behind at her reluctance.

Doing a quick look around to see if there was anyone still lingering, I brought my hand up to scratch my head before taking a quick sniff.

"It smells fine to me…" I muttered before following the down to the game room.

. x s2 x .

"Lets play _Hit me with your best shot_ next!"

"Emmett, we've already played it ten times in the past two hours."

"But its fun, and you've gotta say, its once catchy song," he prodded Jasper, who dropped his head in his hands from an overly dose of annoyance, in the ribs. I don't know why he felt the need to follow that by wiggling his eyebrows.

I finally took the initiative and interrupted before Jasper, or anyone else for that matter by the looks around the room, snapped and would've snapped the toy guitar against Emmett's head along with them. Saying 'I'll hit _you_ with my best shot, you fucking crass!' And with possibly more than just a few of those best shots. You can only be annoyed for so long. And considering it was Jasper, the calmest and best at controlling emotions—his or someone else's—of the six of us, was saying something. "Dude, you're only saying that because this is the easiest song to play and you suck at the game. You're not fooling anyone."

"Fine," he sighed with the girliest tone he could muster. "We'll play _Eye of the Tiger_, I call drums!"

"Is he serious?" Bella leaned over to whisper to me, actually not sure if the big good was.

Instead of answering her question, saving all of us including myself the embarrassment of knowing this douche bag, I piped up, "Can we play something that has remotely any challenge?"

"Translation: something we'd actually have fun playing. You know, F-U-N, you ever heard of it?" Rosalie opened her big trap. So much for easing it in.

"You know what? Esme is baking some cookies, why don't you take a break and see if she's done?" Alice, ever the sly one.

Emmett jumped and was on his way up the stairs as soon as cookies was out of her mouth without even a backward glance, and we all did a much needed sigh of relief.

We played a couple of songs before I thought that this would be a great opportunity to discretely impress Bella, trying to seem nonchalant when I selected Jordan when I had the guitar.

"Buckethead, really?" Alice raised an eyebrow in my direction, which I ignored.

I ran through the notes with ease. Although, I was a little rusty when it came to the solo since I haven't played GH in a while, but I had mastered it on the real instrument so I didn't have much difficulty at all on Expert. The cocky grin couldn't be helped when I scored a high 98%. _And that, my friend, is how you do it_.

I almost felt like blowing on my nails and dusting them off on my shirt, but thought better of it. Bella didn't need to think I was the type with a huge ego while doing that lame move. Even if it were true.

"Pfft, please. Move out of the way and let me show you how its really done." You could say I was surprised when I was looking at my friends roll their eyes one second, and then the next I was looking at their knee caps with my ass on the floor.

Taking the guitar out of my hands, she continued to scroll through the songs downward until she found what she was looking for.

No.

"She couldn't…"

Way.

"THROUGH THE FIRE AND FLAMES? I can barely survive that shit on easy!" Rose exclaimed.

Bella smirked, never taking her eyes off the screen as the song began to open. "Watch and learn."

_On a cold winter morning in a time before the light  
In flames of death's eternal reign we ride towards the fight  
When the darkness has fallen down and the times are tough alright  
The sound of evil laughter falls around the world tonight __1__  
Running back through the mid morning light there's a burning in my heart__2__  
We're banished from a time in a fallen land to a life beyond the stars _

Fighting hard fighting on for the steel through the wastelands evermore  
The scattered souls will feel the hell bodies wasted on the shores  
On the blackest plains in hell's domain we watch them as they go  
In fire and pain now once again we know

So now we fly ever free, we're free before the thunderstorm  
On towards the wilderness our quest carries on  
Far beyond the sundown, far beyond the moonlight  
Deep inside our hearts and all our souls

So far away we wait for the day  
For the lives all so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on

As the red day is dawning and the lightning cracks the sky  
They'll raise their hands to the heavens above with resentment to their lies

In your darkest dreams see to believe our destiny this time  
And endlessly we'll all be free tonight

And on the wings of a dream so far beyond reality  
All alone in desperation now the time has come  
Lost inside you'll never find, lost within my own mind  
Day after day this misery must go on

So far away we wait for the day  
For the lives all so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on

All you heard was murmuring from Alice, who was supposed to be doing vocals. We were all in awe for the whole seven minutes as she glided through the song like a professional figure skater on ice without even breaking a sweat. Her fingers were flashing along with her hang to the sound of each lightning speed click of the plastic strum bar.

_Now here we stand with their blood on our hands  
We fought so hard now can we understand  
I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can  
For freedom of every man_ _  
_  
_So far away we wait for the day  
For the lives all so wasted and gone  
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days  
Through the fire and the flames we carry on_

100% was the only other thing we could comprehend next.

"That."

"Was."

"Fuckawesome." I finished.

She brought her hand up to her lips and blew the fingertips, wiping them off. "Thanks." _She stole my move…_

"_The snack that smiles back_, GOLDFISH!" We all jumped when we heard Emmett's booming voice from behind us. It wasn't surprising when he was plopping down on the couch with Rosalie, throwing the little orange snacks into his mouth. "So, what'd I miss?"

. x s2 x .

"Oh hello, you must be Bella. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Alice loves talking about you over the dinner table," Esme smiled warmly, hugging her after she finished wiping her hands clean.

The two of us had gone up to the kitchen because we were getting a little hungry and the fresh smell of cookies and wafted down towards the gaming area. The sweet aroma was just too much for us to resist.

They pulled back after the warm hug before she replied. "You two, Mrs. Cullen. And I just wanted to let you know that your baking talents leave an amazing smell behind," Bella smiled back. With a line like that, she already had dear Esme in the bag.

"Oh please, call me Esme. Formalities make me feel so old," mom waved her off. "And where are my manners? Take as many as you'd like. I've made plenty, knowing Emmett has a tendency of devouring as many as he can get his hands on," she handed her the plate of still warm baked goods.

I could feel my mouth watering already, so naturally, I reached out for one. "OW!"

"Now Edward, let the guests take one first. It's rude to just grab while they're in the middle of taking one," Esme scolded me while I rubbed my hand that had been smacked away.

"Fine," I huffed before hearing Bella giggled next to me while she was taking her first bite. I couldn't help but smile back at her, it only widening when her laughing abruptly stopped to 'mmm…' in satisfaction.

"These are amazing, Mrs-I mean Esme."

Esme gave me a quick glance, her eyes sparkling, silently telling me she was really taken with this girl. You're not the only one. "Why thank you dear, I have my own little secret twist to them."

"Will you share that little secret with me if I share one of mine?"

"Absolutely," the two of them giggled together, while I stood there shocked at this new piece of information.

"You cook?"

They quieted down and Bella turned to me after grabbing another cookie. "Yeah, Renee was never one for the responsibilities and I'd rather not eat take out everyday in Charlie's house, so I do the cooking when it comes to the three of us. And I think I'm fairly decent if I do say so myself." She put a hand on her hip, an easy grin gracing her lips.

"You'll have to make me something sometime then," I grinned, crookedly, right back at her.

And then Esme had to ruin my flow. "Yes, Edward can be just as bad as Emmett some days. Eats like a machine from time to time. It's like I don't feed him enough so he inhales things like a starving man."

"_Mom_…" I whined.

She raised her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. Well I have the gardening club to go to and I'm going to run late if I don't leave soon. I hope to see more of you, Bella." She gave her another hug. "I love you, honey. See you kids later." She kissed my forehead and was hightailing out of there before I could swat her embarrassing motherly love away.

I grabbed a chocolate chip before leaning against the counter. "So where'd you learn to do that? I mean, that took some serious skill, back there. Do you actually play?" I was eager to know, and eager to change her train of thought so she'd stop laughing at my 'cuteness' as she liked to call that earlier interaction with my mother.

Bella brushed the crumbs off on her jeans nervously. "Uh…no. Actually, it was one of the only ways me and Phil bonded with and we were really competitive when we played. So there was a phase where I practised and played every free moment I had. There were nights where I didn't sleep because of it, but it paid off well in the end because after that, he could never beat me."

"Wow."

"Nerdy, I know," Bella laughed hesitantly.

"No…actually that's pretty awesome, bonding with your step-dad like that. Most teenagers would rather not have anything to do with their parents, let alone step-parents," I admitted, sincere with what I said.

Bella laughed. "You included," she guessed, referring to my lack of enthusiasm towards my moms affections.

"Yeah, sometimes," I rubbed my neck sheepishly.

She was about to say something when her phone went off. "Just give me a second." I nodded, letting her know I didn't mind. "Hello?...um no…" she looked over to me and I raised an eyebrow before she looked back to the ground. "Yeah sure…alright see you, bye." She flipped her phone shut before turning back to me.

**BPOV**

Damn curiosity got the better of him so he asked, "Who was that?"

"Oh…uh…my dad," it even sounded lame out of my own ears.

"Seriously, you are the worst liar I have ever known."

"If I tell you, you'll just get mad," I started getting defensive now.

"Why, what happened?"

I decided to give half truths so it'd at least sound real. "It was just someone from school that wanted to ask me something."

"Who asked you what?"

I sighed; trying to come up with a way to play around this, but then drew a blank and gave up. "It was Matthew from my English class. He wanted to know if I was busy tomorrow night since he heard about Tyler."

"How did he even get your number?" Edward gritted out, probably going with that question instead, otherwise he might've snapped because obviously he was right there when I stupidly said 'Yeah, sure.'

I shrugged, uneasily. "I'm not sure, I was going to ask but if I did, you would've put two and two together and probably snap while I was still on the phone with him."

He glared down at the ground, not denying anything, but wouldn't meet my gaze.

I heard myself sigh and walked up to him. "Look at me Edward." He still refused to meet my eyes. I took a deep breath before bringing my hand up to his face and yanking his chin towards me so I'd have his attention. "I care about you and…I like you. Probably more than I should." It was true, as much as I hated and how hard it was to admit to myself, over the last few weeks he had grown on me.

He interrupted me. "Then why won't you be with me? I've changed, I won't use you, I swear-"

"I know," because I saw it.

There was talk everywhere you turned about it, how Edward Cullen, school playboy, suddenly became closed off. And it was hard for me to miss when there were always eyes on you in the hallways and during class while they talked about it.

"_I think its 'cause of that new chick."_

"_What a shame. Wasted candy, I think."_

"_Ew, her? She's so fake; nobody can just be that pretty."_

But not all of them were so harsh. Just the ones that thought girls like Lauren Mallory were cooler than a basket of bread sticks.

"_Well she's a hell of a lot more real than your nose. Besides, if she were so plastic, then why doesn't she flaunt herself instead of wearing just jeans and a t-shirt? Why isn't she parading around in a convertible instead of not being ashamed that she drives a truck with personality? Why doesn't…"_

Girls like Angela Weber were the ones that kept me going. Thankfully, there were a lot more of them here than there were Lauren Mallory wannabes. I did an internal smile at the thought before continuing. "It's just…I've been experiences in the past. It's hard for me to…"

"Date playboys?" he offered, his anger slowly disappearing and softening when he saw how I was struggling with this conversation. _He knew_. He knew there was something I was hiding.

Somehow, during this talk, we had managed to wrap our arms each other, his more around me in a manner of comfort from my unease on this subject. I cracked a smile. "Something like that."

He nodded, accepting my mysterious answer.

"I have my reasons for the things I'm doing, so don't get too emotional over them or take them too personally. It's not you, it's me," I tried to reassure him, resting my head on his chest.

He just laughed at that and I had to lift my head back up so he would see the slight confusion on my face. "That just sounded a lot like a break up line or something to let me down easy. The yearbook probably has that down as my famous quote." I laughed along with him for a little bit before laying my head back down, as his arms tightened around me in response.

It was a lot more comforting than I thought. Something I needed for more than just the moment.

* * *

**I know it's been practically forever and I'm really sorry for any of those who are still even reading this. To be honest, at first I was just always busy doing something whether it was homework, hanging out with friends, or just relaxing so I stopped going on this site altogether. Before I used to at least read sometimes on here but I guess being preoccupied all the time, I started losing interest. This semester I've been taking co-op or Cooperative Education and aside from going to work, I never knew how much work had to be put into this course on top of that so its been taking up a lot of my time especially now since school is almost over, the big assignments have been a pain to get ready for. I was even thinking about closing this story down altogether but I thought about it and there are still a few that for some strange reason are still commited to this xD. Not that it's a bad thing, actually that's really nice of those of you. I don't have time right now to write, but I'll try to get the next chapter up by sometime in the beginning of June because I already had half of it done before. Thank you to _Fireflies-Flying _and the others that have kept telling me to update and reminding me that I even had a story still going on haha**

**I'll see you guys in June :)**


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